NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover made its first trip to Mars on March 4, covering 21,3 feet (6,5 meters) across the Martian landscape. The unit served as a mobility test that marks just one of many milestones as team check and calibrate every system, subsystem and instrument in Perseverance. Once the rover starts chasing its scientific objectives , regular displacements of 656 feet (200 meters) or more are expected.
“When it comes to wheeled vehicles on other planets, there are few first-time events that compare to the significance of the first trip”said Anais Zarifian, mobility test bench engineer for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “This was our first opportunity to 'kick the tires' and take Perseverance for a spin. The rover's six-wheel drive responded superbly. We are now confident that our drive system is ready to go, capable of taking us wherever the science takes us over the next two years. ”
The journey, which took about 33 minutes, propelled the rover forward 13 feet (4 meters), where it then turned 150 degrees to the left and backed up 8 feet (2,5 meters) into its new temporary parking space. To help better understand the dynamics of a retrorocket landing on the Red Planet, engineers used Perseverance's navigation and hazard avoidance cameras to image the location where Perseverance landed, dispersing Martian dust with plumes from its engines.
more than walking
The rover's mobility system isn't the only thing that can be tested during this period of initial checks. On Feb. 26 — Perseverance's eighth Martian day, or sol, since landing — mission controllers completed a software upgrade, replacing the computer program that helped land Perseverance with one they'll rely on to investigate the planet.
More recently, controllers checked the Perseverance Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX) and Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instruments and deployed the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) instrument's two wind sensors, which extend out from the rover's mast. Another major milestone occurred on March 2, or Sol 12, when engineers packed the rover's 7-foot-long (2-meter-long) robotic arm for the first time, flexing each of its five ts over the course of two hours.
“The first test of the robotic arm on Tuesday was a huge moment for us,” said Robert Hogg, associate mission manager for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. close to the geological features of Jezero Crater and then we will drill and sample the ones we find most interesting. When we got confirmation of the robotic arm flexing its muscles, including footage of it working beautifully after its long trip to Mars – well, that made my day. ”
events and evaluations include more detailed testing and calibration of scientific instruments, shipping the rover in longer units, and dump covers that protect both the adaptive cache assembly (part of the sample cache system
from the rover) and the Ingenuity Mars helicopter during landing. The experimental flight test program for the Ingenuity Mars helicopter will also take place during the rover's commissioning.
Through it all, the rover is sending back images from the most advanced camera array ever to travel to Mars. The mission's cameras have already sent back about 7.000 images. On Earth, Perseverance images flow through the powerful Deep Space Network (DSN), managed by NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program. In space, various Mars orbiters play an equally important role.
"Orbit's for data downlink has been a real game changer," said Justin Maki, chief imaging engineer and imaging scientist for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover at JPL. “When you see a beautiful image of Jezero, consider that it took an entire team of Martians to bring it to you. All Perseverance images are relayed by the European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter or by NASA's MAVEN, Mars Odyssey or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They are important partners in our explorations and discoveries. ”
The sheer volume of images and data already arriving on this mission has been a welcome reward for Matt Wallace, who re looking forward to the first images during NASA's first Mars rover mission, Sojourner, which explored Mars in 1997. On March 3, Wallace became the mission's new project manager. He replaces John McNamee, who is stepping down as intended after helming the project for nearly a decade.
“John has provided unwavering to me and all project for over a decade,” said Wallace. “He left his mark on this mission and team, and it has been my privilege to not only call him my boss, but also my friend.”
More about the mission:
One of the main goals of Perseverance's Mars mission is to astrobiology , including the search for signs of ancestral microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and store Martian rocks and regoliths.
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with the ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes missions Artemis to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
Source; NASA
